Valiant Knight Says…
I must agree with Lady in Red that women is a gift from God to man. However, her sense of curiosity practically ruined the comfortable life God granted us in the Garden of Eden. One of women’s greatest weaknesses is the inability to fall into temptation and therefore women from before and until today do not usually put themselves in a situation where they can be tempted as Eve was tempted by the snake. Given such a situation, most women would fall. (So would most men!)
Thus, mankind, in order to protect womenfolk from temptations that would ruin the family institutions have always kept up the pressure on them by making them feel subservient to men! If women are kept at home and unexposed to the temptations of the world, then the family institution stands a better chance to survive. This will ensure than mankind will dominate the world as it is doing today with so many billions of us around. Women are kept as baby-makers (in the past they bear easily half a dozen children compared to the one or two of today’s world.) They are kept as home managers (a nice term in today’s language) and feed the children and husbands.
In the past, a women’s role is that of a child-bearer and a home keeper. Today, as I pointed out in last week’s article, since the suffragettes’ activities in Europe and America, even women of Malaysia are demanding for equal opportunities and rights. They want to be like men! I am not here to discuss whether this is right or wrong. There is no such thing as right or wrong when it comes to this issue. The question I want to raise here is whether it is suitable for our Malaysian society. You give us your feedbacks.
When economic activities were limited and demands for labour were not great, it was all right to keep the women at home to clean, cook, and care for the babies. However, when industrialization progressed, the demand for labour saw the influx of women working in the factories, in some case, taking along their children. It was to the advantage of the industrialists to exploit women’s labour and pay them lower salaries by exploiting the idea that women are less able than men being the so-called weaker sex. This concept, to exploit the cheap labour of women at that time, stuck on till today in many societies. However, with the women’s rights fighters, many Western nations capitulated and improved the rights of women as a whole, not only in work places but how the law treated them.
Today, the world is not similar in the way women are treated still. In developed nations they are given practically equal rights. In less and undeveloped nations, they still are second class citizens. In some countries, religious taboos and practices prevent them from progressing. They are not allowed to go to school, they have customs that make them subservient to men and in general they are sometimes treated no better than cattle in some tribes.
In Malaysia, I see a mixture of both such situations. Our women can be in top executive positions in the public and private sector yet at the same time some of these are still subject to the control of their husbands to such an extent that they cannot choose to wear what they want and cannot go out to meet others! How is it that we have this paradox? A large proportion of our ladies are governed by religious and traditional and cultural rules! We cannot and maybe should not imitate Western societies! Again I leave it to the general public to respond here.
If you ask me, I would say that women are equal to men both physically and mentally. In some cases one group may out do the other. There will be some men who are definitely stronger physically and some women stronger than some weak men. Likewise, some women are smarter than some men. It is a matter of given the right incentive, motivation and opportunities. Malaysian women today are lucky in that they are free to go to school and university. They are employed based on meritocracy by commercial and government departments. Yet, there is still some discrimination. If not, one would definitely find most of the government departments headed by ladies!
Treating women as the weaker sex by a segment of our society has actually resulted in the men in this society to be less capable. They cannot even do the basic necessities to keep alive if they are without a woman! Yet they profess to be stronger. By being deceived to be the stronger gender, they allowed women to overtake them in the field of studies and workplace! They are too relaxed to the extent of being lazy! Thus, women in their society improved because of their own fault. Today, more of their women are university graduates and working in government positions at all levels. The men are street thugs or kite and top players. Those that are gainfully employed do not show the quality of diligence that their women folks show!
So, if you look at women of yesterday/yesteryear and today, it is not the same all over the world. Even in our own country, there are vast differences. If you ask whether the trend should be to give women more opportunities and rights, I would definitely agree. It will benefit our economy. But on the other hand, unless men are willing to take over the role of women as home managers while their wives become income earners and breadwinners, society and mankind as a whole would suffer. Reproduction and consistent growth of our numbers would be reduced and one day we may become extinct like a large percentage of most animals do!
I must agree with Lady in Red that women is a gift from God to man. However, her sense of curiosity practically ruined the comfortable life God granted us in the Garden of Eden. One of women’s greatest weaknesses is the inability to fall into temptation and therefore women from before and until today do not usually put themselves in a situation where they can be tempted as Eve was tempted by the snake. Given such a situation, most women would fall. (So would most men!)
Thus, mankind, in order to protect womenfolk from temptations that would ruin the family institutions have always kept up the pressure on them by making them feel subservient to men! If women are kept at home and unexposed to the temptations of the world, then the family institution stands a better chance to survive. This will ensure than mankind will dominate the world as it is doing today with so many billions of us around. Women are kept as baby-makers (in the past they bear easily half a dozen children compared to the one or two of today’s world.) They are kept as home managers (a nice term in today’s language) and feed the children and husbands.
In the past, a women’s role is that of a child-bearer and a home keeper. Today, as I pointed out in last week’s article, since the suffragettes’ activities in Europe and America, even women of Malaysia are demanding for equal opportunities and rights. They want to be like men! I am not here to discuss whether this is right or wrong. There is no such thing as right or wrong when it comes to this issue. The question I want to raise here is whether it is suitable for our Malaysian society. You give us your feedbacks.
When economic activities were limited and demands for labour were not great, it was all right to keep the women at home to clean, cook, and care for the babies. However, when industrialization progressed, the demand for labour saw the influx of women working in the factories, in some case, taking along their children. It was to the advantage of the industrialists to exploit women’s labour and pay them lower salaries by exploiting the idea that women are less able than men being the so-called weaker sex. This concept, to exploit the cheap labour of women at that time, stuck on till today in many societies. However, with the women’s rights fighters, many Western nations capitulated and improved the rights of women as a whole, not only in work places but how the law treated them.
Today, the world is not similar in the way women are treated still. In developed nations they are given practically equal rights. In less and undeveloped nations, they still are second class citizens. In some countries, religious taboos and practices prevent them from progressing. They are not allowed to go to school, they have customs that make them subservient to men and in general they are sometimes treated no better than cattle in some tribes.
In Malaysia, I see a mixture of both such situations. Our women can be in top executive positions in the public and private sector yet at the same time some of these are still subject to the control of their husbands to such an extent that they cannot choose to wear what they want and cannot go out to meet others! How is it that we have this paradox? A large proportion of our ladies are governed by religious and traditional and cultural rules! We cannot and maybe should not imitate Western societies! Again I leave it to the general public to respond here.
If you ask me, I would say that women are equal to men both physically and mentally. In some cases one group may out do the other. There will be some men who are definitely stronger physically and some women stronger than some weak men. Likewise, some women are smarter than some men. It is a matter of given the right incentive, motivation and opportunities. Malaysian women today are lucky in that they are free to go to school and university. They are employed based on meritocracy by commercial and government departments. Yet, there is still some discrimination. If not, one would definitely find most of the government departments headed by ladies!
Treating women as the weaker sex by a segment of our society has actually resulted in the men in this society to be less capable. They cannot even do the basic necessities to keep alive if they are without a woman! Yet they profess to be stronger. By being deceived to be the stronger gender, they allowed women to overtake them in the field of studies and workplace! They are too relaxed to the extent of being lazy! Thus, women in their society improved because of their own fault. Today, more of their women are university graduates and working in government positions at all levels. The men are street thugs or kite and top players. Those that are gainfully employed do not show the quality of diligence that their women folks show!
So, if you look at women of yesterday/yesteryear and today, it is not the same all over the world. Even in our own country, there are vast differences. If you ask whether the trend should be to give women more opportunities and rights, I would definitely agree. It will benefit our economy. But on the other hand, unless men are willing to take over the role of women as home managers while their wives become income earners and breadwinners, society and mankind as a whole would suffer. Reproduction and consistent growth of our numbers would be reduced and one day we may become extinct like a large percentage of most animals do!
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